The Neandertal Genome Project

An international consortium of researchers has sequenced the genome of our closest relative, the Neandertal.

In a paper released in Science on May 7, 2010 the team reports the sequencing of an initial draft of the genome. The sequence was generated from several Neandertal fossils from Croatia, Germany, Spain and Russia using high-throughput sequencing technologies.

Results indicate that Neandertals are slightly more closely related to modern humans outside Africa. The team also identified several genomic regions that appear to have played an important role during human evolution.